By Monica Rodman

“I’m here for the boys,” Marguerite Holtgrieve told the soldier who would eventually become her husband.

It was 1945. Marguerite, who went by Maggie, was one of several thousand women who volunteered with the American Red Cross during World War II. The Red Cross had started a project to boost the morale of American servicemen abroad and give them connection to home while they fought overseas. Young ladies like Maggie joined a brigade of “Donut Dollies” who served coffee, donuts, and light entertainment out of converted GMC trucks outfitted with kitchens.

Stationed on an army base in Nancy, France, 26-year-old Maggie met Ardo Stocks the day after V-E day. The medic was recovering from a gunshot wound that would later earn him Bronze Star and Purple Heart military medals.

Maggie’s bright smile and humor won Ardo over immediately. When he was ordered to return home to California to continue his rehabilitation, he asked Maggie to come with him so they could be married. But she insisted she was there for the boys; she had a job to finish.

Before her time in France, Maggie grew up in Washington, Missouri, a small town 50 miles west of St. Louis. After graduating college, she worked at Curtiss-Wright, a major aircraft manufacturer that supported the war efforts. But Maggie wanted to do more.

Eager to see more of the world, she applied to the Red Cross. It was a rigorous application process with strict requirements; women had to be between 25 and 35 years old, college graduates, single, physically fit, and easy on the eyes. Most importantly, the women had to prove they had dazzling personalities through letters of recommendation and personal interviews. Only 1 in 6 women were approved and Maggie made the cut.

“She was probably sassy with the boys,” Maggie’s daughter Sarah Stocks Pitt said of her late mother.

Sarah described her mother as outgoing and curious – someone who liked having people around and was genuinely interested in other people’s lives. And she was funny – a trait that lasted into Maggie’s twilight years. As Maggie approached her 100th birthday, she joked she’d get a tattoo to mark the occasion. When asked where she’d get it, she’d say, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

From 1945 to 1946, Maggie traveled from Nancy to Dijon, France. She comforted homesick soldiers, some of whom were so young they hadn’t graduated high school yet. She trekked through European towns in trains and Jeeps and witnessed firsthand the devastation of war. When she wasn’t serving coffee or donuts, she was most likely holding a deck of cards; she was an avid bridge player. She made lasting friendships with the other “Dollies” on her team and kept in touch with them for decades after the war.

When her tour was up, Maggie boarded the Queen Elizabeth ship back to the U.S. and made her way to California to Ardo. The couple wed on September 18, 1946. They eventually settled in Sacramento, where they raised their four children; their firstborn, Nancy, was named after the place they met.

“As children, we viewed our mom’s experience as a wonderful and positive life event,” Sarah said.

Maggie was a stay-at-home mom, while Ardo traveled around the state working in pharmaceuticals. She enjoyed cooking, he enjoyed woodworking. They were married for over 60 years, until Ardo passed away on January 25, 2007. He was 87.

In 2018, Maggie died just three months shy of her 100th birthday. She never got that tattoo.

“I had to get it for her,” Sarah said. It would be her first and only; a heart with a bird on it. Maggie loved birds. Sarah thinks of her mother, a colorful and courageous person, every time she looks at it.

If you would like to learn more about the women who served as Red Cross Donut Dollies, please visit: “‘Donut Dollies’ Supported Members of the Military during Vietnam, Other Wars”.